I’ve been longing for a vacation as it’s been 8 years since my husband and I had a proper vacation. The last one was a week in Cancun. Unfortunately it was shortly after the hurricane and it was, well let’s just say, not what we expected. The “resort” was damaged. There were half a dozen beach chairs and people would literally go to the beach at 5 am to reserve their chairs by placing things on them. Even if they never used the chairs they seemed to guard them like a German Shepherd at a junk yard and things got vicious if you went near one. One couple had a room whose room faced the lobby but they didn’t have curtains. When they asked for some they were told “not today.” This became the catch phrase and the running joke because any time anyone asked for something, the response was “not today.”
We didn’t have any towels when we checked in and did manage to get some. Even though we hung them up after use, they were taken by the housekeeping staff the next day and not replaced. Again we asked for towels and eventually got them. From that point on we had to hide them to prevent them from being taken. One day we were told the electricity would be shut off for most of the day. We had electric locks on the room doors so the choice was to lock yourself inside or be locked out until the electricity was restored. Food was limited due to the lack of electricity but fortunately downtown was a relatively short walk. Despite the short comings of the “resort” we made some good friends and had T-shirts made up that said “Not Today.”
Fast forward to 2015 and my husband I and I are aching to go somewhere, especially after the horrible winter. He works awful hours, up at 4 am and is dead dog tired after being out in the elements all day carrying boxes and delivering them. He gets no vacation time, sick pay, or even funeral pay. When his mother died it cost him $600 in lost pay. So a vacation means cost of the vacation, a lost week of pay for him, and a fortune to have someone take care of the dogs because his mom, who always took care of them, passed away a year ago.
My job gives me vacation pay. I cannot accumulate more than 80 hours at a time so I have to “use it or loose it.” I decided to take the week of memorial day off since Memorial Day was a paid day off for me.
Then plans went awry. Be careful what you wish for.
I was getting really bored with my job and not wanting to be there. I had years of being rich enough to not have to work and spend my days riding horses and cooking gourmet meals. This is the life I’m trying to manifest again. Two days ago I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, tried to get out of bed, only to howl in pain. My lower back and hip were in agony and I could barely move my left leg. In the morning it took 20 minutes to get my shoes on but I went to work. My boss, usually nice, had just quit smoking again and sent me home saying I could not fulfill the duties of my job. I argued I could do desk work and that wasn’t good enough.
My wonderful chiropractor was closed that day but I called his cell and he was good enough to come in to see me. He concluded that I have inflamed two vertebrae in my back and needed rest, ice, ice, more ice, and anti inflammatory meds. I stayed in bed on ice, took the meds, took a sleeping pill and woke up in pain. While I was better than the previous day, I was still having trouble walking and knew my boss would just send me home again. Bam – two vacation days down the tubes. Know I have to figure out if I can take Memorial Day week off. I get more vacation hours in June.
So I did get a whole week off. I got a “vacation;” but it was not the vacation I wanted or had planned.
Lesson learned: Be careful what you wish for because it doesn’t always happen the way you want, but it does happen!